MAY 18, 2001

Villeneuve's Valencia delight

JACQUES VILLENEUVE beat Jarno Trulli's Jordan by just two-hundredths of a second to top the times in the final day of Valencia testing on Friday.

The McLaren team, who had broken the lap record at the track one two successive days during the test, were no longer present and that left Villeneuve and Trulli to battle at the top.

But Sauber's in-form Kimi Raikkonen was just three-hundredths further off the pace in third despite losing time during the morning session.

Montoya, who was pleased after a successful four day test, ended the final day in fourth place for Williams but he was the only other man within the one minute-14 second barrier.

Jean Alesi, meanwhile, was pleased after an important test which witnessed the introduction of a new aerodynamic package, but still found himself down towards the bottom of the timesheets.

"All of the new pieces have made a positive improvement to their relevant areas and the overall speed of the car," he said.

VALENCIA TEST - FRIDAY, 18 MAY 2001

POS

DRIVER ENTRANT TIME

1.

JACQUES VILLENEUVE BAR-Honda 1:13.122

2.

JARNO TRULLI Jordan-Honda 1:13.143

3.

KIMI RAIKKONEN Sauber-Petronas 1:13.178

4.

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA Williams-BMW 1:13.454

5.

RICARDO ZONTA Jordan-Honda 1:14.116

6.

OLIVIER PANIS BAR-Honda 1:14.124

7.

PEDRO DE LA ROSA Jaguar 1:14.552

8.

ENRIQUE BERNOLDI Arrows-Asiatech 1:14.677

9.

JOS VERSTAPPEN Arrows-Asiatech 1:14.791

10.

JEAN ALESI Prost-Acer 1:14.839

11.

MARC GENE Williams-BMW 1:14.883

12.

ANDRE LOTTERER Jaguar 1:15.632